Charcoal grills are often constructed with a basin or bowl in which a supply of charcoal briquettes is held and a wire mesh grill supported above the bowl upon which foodstuffs may be placed for cooking. In use, a supply of charcoal briquettes is poured into the bowl with the grill removed, the briquettes wetted with a flammable fluid, and the fluid then ignited. Once the briquettes begin to burn well, they are spread across the floor of the bowl and the wire mesh grill then positioned above them. When the briquettes have burned sufficiently to produce a desired cooking temperature, foodstuffs such as meats are placed upon the grill and cooked.
Heretofore, the just described charcoal grills have had certain problems associated with their use. For example, the random positioning of the briquettes in the bowl has provided an uneven source of heat so that some foodstuffs become cooked more rapidly than others positioned there beside. Where adjacent briquettes overlay one another, hot spots tend to develop which causes flareups and flames both from their self-produced heat as well as from fat drippings falling thereon. This tends to char the foodstuffs producing a taste and texture that is disliked by many people.
The just described problems associated with unevenesss of heating and with flareups from hot spots have been alleviated by charcoal supports which position charcoals in an organized manner. Exemplary of such supports are those disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,191,591 and 3,245,398. By regularly spacing the individual charcoal briquettes, hot spots are prevented from occurring. These supports, however, have also had problems associated with their use and have failed to find commercial acceptance. For example, to insure good circulation of air for combustion, and to drain fluids away from the briquettes, the supports with regularly spaced recesses have either been formed of wire mesh materials or with solid materials that are provided with drains. Thus, they have been independent structures designed for placement within grill bowls above the bowl floors. Being an additional element of a charcoal grill, however, grills that employ this type of briquette support have been relatively complex, expensive and difficult to clean. Were a charcoal grill to be devised which would retain the benefits of such supports but without their attendant problems, a definitive advance in the art would be achieved. It is to the provision of such as improvement in charcoal grills that the present invention is primarily directed.